Search the Dictionary

and turns; a winding, or a series of windings; a wave line; a curve. A line of coast certainly amounting, with its sinuosities, to more than 700 miles. Sydney Smith.

A doubter as to whether any fact or truth can be certainly known; a universal doubter; a Pyrrhonist; hence, in modern usage, occasionally, a person who questions whether any truth or fact can be established on philosophical grounds; sometimes, a critical inquirer, in opposition to a dogmatist. All this criticism [of Hu…

ing to a sceptic or skepticism; characterized by skepticism; hesitating to admit the certainly of doctrines or principles; doubting of everything.

The doctrine that no fact or principle can be certainly known; the tenet that all knowledge is uncertain; Pyrrohonism; universal doubt; the position that no fact or truth, however worthy of confidence, can be established on philosophical grounds; critical investigation or inquiry, as opposed to the positive assumption…

A hanging down of the head; a drooping attitude; a limp appearance; an ungainly, clownish gait; a sidewise depression or hanging down, as of a hat brim.

nging down at the side; limp; drooping; without firmness or shapeliness; moving in an ungainly manner.

ere things are so-so, One gammon of bacon hangs up for a show. Goldsmith. He [Burns] certainly wrote some so-so verses to the Tree of Liberty. Prof. Wilson.

sm is more and more to ally itself with the most advanced democracy. Encyc. Brit. We certainly want a true history of socialism, meaning by that a history of every systematic attempt to provide a new social existence for the mass of the workers. F. Harrison.

Fig.: Grief; affliction; trouble; difficulty. Chaucer. I see plainly where his sore lies. Sir W. Scott. Gold sore. (Med.) See under Gold, n.

Thinly scattered; set or planted here and there; not being dense or close together; as, a sparse population. Carlyle.

Displayed; spread out; turned outward; hence, flat; ungainly; as, splay shoulders. Sonwthing splay, something blunt-edged, unhandy, and infelicitous. M. Arnold.

An ancient high court exercising jurisdiction in certain cases, mainly criminal, which sat without the intervention of a jury. It consisted of the king's council, or of the privy council only with the addition of certain judges. It could proceed on mere rumor or examine witnesses; it could apply torture. It was abolish…

y; as, to steal a look. Always, when thou changest thine opinion or course, profess it plainly, . . . and do not think to steal it. Bacon. To steal a march, to march in a covert way; to gain an advantage unobserved; -- formerly followed by of, but now by on or upon, and sometimes by over; as, to steal a march upon one'…

a mischief to us, you are providing shall be one of our principal strengths. Sprat. Certainly there is not a greater strength against temptation. Jer. Taylor.

ar to originate from its upper part; also of an ovary when the other floral organs are plainly below it in position, and free from it.

Certainly knowing and believing; confident beyond doubt; implicity trusting; unquestioning; positive. We are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things. Rom. ii. 2. I'm sure care 's an enemy of life. Shak.

In a sure or certain manner; certainly; infallibly; undoubtedly; assuredly. In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. Gen. ii. 17. He that created something out of nothing, surely can raise great things out of small. South.

One of a Malayan race, mainly of central Luzon, next to the Visayans the most numerous of the native peoples of the Philippines. Nearly all are Christians and many are highly educated.

d to be so named after a celebrated Italian family of professional dancers. He ought certainly to exchange his taglioni, or comfortable greatcoat, for a cuirass of steel. Sir W. Scott.

An instrument consisting of a fine, sharp hook attached to a handle, and used mainly for taking up arteries, and the like.